The rest of the trip back to Hale Territory was uncomfortably quiet. Stiles kept reminding himself that he was heading home but he couldn't help the underlining sense that what he had done could never be forgiven. He had always been able to see both side of an argument, which had made him a natural mediator with the Hunters. Stiles could see exactly how his actions looked and felt to the pack. Even if he wasn't the one to lead the attack, to break their trust, he was the one who the pack saw as siding with Scott when he pleaded for the traitor's life.
The warm pressure of Derek's hand on his knee brought him out of his dark thoughts. "It's not going to be easy for you to bring me back into the pack." Stiles watched the trees thicken as they traveled closer to home and pack.
"Things worthwhile rarely are. You don't have to come back. This has to be what you want because it will be permanent."
Stiles covered Derek's hand with his own and squeezed. "It's everything I want but that doesn't make the worry go away."
By the time they pulled in front of the Hale house the shadows had lengthened, stretching their dark fingers across the lawn and up to the front porch. The lights of the house were out making it look empty and cold. "You know you will have to face them on your own first. I will be there to support you but you and the rest of the pack need to work this out if you want to be accepted fully." Cupping the back of Stiles' head and bringing their foreheads gently together for a second, the alpha breathed in his chosen's scent. With a quick kiss on Stiles' cheek, Derek exited the car and walked quickly up the stairs before stopping at the top, leaning against one of the supports.
Stiles was left to struggle with his seatbelt and door, the cast caught at a bad angle making it hard to get a grip on the handle. By the time he rolled out of the door, bag tangling his feet and causing him to trip, the wolves had surrounded the car in complete silence. Their eyes, glowing ambers and neon blue, flashed like angry fireflies.
"You dare show yourself on pack land? After you left us? Betrayed us?" Jackson stalked his way out of the shadows as if the every darkness that surrounded him was taking form.
Rage translated smoothly into pacing, each pass bringing Jackson closer to where Stiles stood. "I never betrayed the pack. I had no idea what Scott was planning. I would have stopped him, warned you, done something."
"You sided with hunters, went crawling back to your old family as soon as you had the chance."
"I never knew he was planning anything. The first inkling I had was when the other hunters were Tazing me and locking me in the warehouse. I swear if I had known anything, if I had just the smallest suspicion that Scott was thinking of hurting you..."
"You still would have tried to protect him." Jackson cut him off, anger and rage pouring off of him in an almost visible wave as he stepped closer to a now trembling Stiles. "You would have still chosen him over the pack."
"I didn't choose Scott over the pack; I just wanted him to be spared. I never would have stood by his decision to attack you. Just because I wanted Scott alive didn't mean I was taking his side against you. Yes, I was trying to protect him, just like I was trying to protect you when I found out their plan."
"You left with him. Left the pack, left Beacon Hills for someone that could turn his back on all of us. How can you justify that?"
"When your family hurts you, it doesn't make you love them any less. And I didn't leave Beacon Hills until you forced my hand by trying to kill Scott."
"He's not your blood, he's not family."
"Family is more than being related. You, as a wolf, should know this. Your pack is family. Family is love and caring about a person's well-being and watching out for them even when they are total idiots. Family is forgiving when someone makes a mistake."
"Scott doesn't deserve your forgiveness." Jackson was so close that Stiles could make out small purple flecks in his glowing irises but he didn't back down or drop his gaze.
"I know, but no one deserves forgiveness. That's the whole point. You forgive them because your heart tells you too. You forgive so that you can be whole again."
"You left your family Stiles, that's what a pack is; a family and you turned your back on us and left with that traitor."
"You didn't give me much choice," Stiles snarled back. "You attacked him and threatened to kill him if we didn't get out of town. You forced my hand and forced me out. Don't blame me for leaving when it was the pack who showed me the door." Stiles' broken arm throbbed in agony as he pushed his cast against Jackson's chest forcing him backwards a step before the wolf reacted.
The response was explosive and Stiles found himself skidding backwards across the gravel on his ass, tiny rocks and bits of dirt imbedding in his palm where he braced his fall.
Stiles was back on his feet and halfway to Jackson, heedless of his injuries when Derek's voice ripped through the dusk. "Enough." It wasn't roared or howled or even spoken in a raised tone but his voice was pure alpha, not to be denied; only total submission was accepted.
The pack dropped like marionettes with their strings cut. Erica and Isaac were down on both knees with their heads almost touching the ground and Boyd was down on one knee but crouched low. Jackson went down like a knight kneeling to his liege, slowly and with dignity his head held high but eyes downcast.
Red eyes locked on Stiles and a low rumble filled the evening air. Flashes of conversation repeated in Stiles' brain as he crossed the yard toward Derek; you've never been submissive, always a challenge, things will have to change when you come back to the pack. Stiles could feel the tension building as he passed the wolves; see the rising fury in Derek's glowing eyes.
He stopped an arm's reach away from Derek and dropped to his knees, head bowed. "Alpha."
Derek made a soft chuffing sound as he pulled Stiles back onto his feet. "It's a little late to start acting submissive now. Mates are equals." The sharp exhale of shock from the pack was ignored. "You didn't leave on your own?" At Stiles' silent shake Derek turned to look at his first beta. "Jackson, what is this about an attack on Scott and Stiles. I never authorized a confrontation."
"He betrayed the pack. We couldn't just let him remain in town unpunished. He was omega, without pack. I had to drive him out."
"The pack was told that Stiles was not to be harmed." Derek's voice didn't rise above a calm questioning tone as was all the more scary for its blandness. "Are you challenging my decisions?"
"No alpha." Jackson dropped to both knees and bowed his head.
Derek reached down and pulled Stiles up by his good arm, spinning him so he was facing the pack, back pressed to Derek's chest, warm arms pinning him in place around his waist and shoulders. "Stiles will be rejoining our pack." Shimmering eyes looked up in shock at the alpha's declaration. "I have offered and he has accepted. I Claim him as Mate."
Blunted teeth tore into the muscled flesh of his shoulder. Stiles would have screamed but his breath was stolen away by the flood of pain and he was only able to release a shuddering inhaled gasp. Derek's tongue traced the outline of imprint, licking the blood away from the wound and cleaning it. The tip dipped into each tear in the skin working his saliva deep into the open wound.
With eyes closed Stiles could see the pack, muted colors coming clearing with each pass of Derek's tongue. The alpha was the first to come into focus his anger at Scott and the pain he brought to his pack still burning bright but eclipsed by the magnesium glow of his love and a need to protect his mate that seared the very air around him.
Jackson was a reddish-brown like old blood. His rage and anger masking the deeper hurt of Scott's betrayal. He felt like a scab covered infection, the sickness lurking just underneath needing to be cleansed before spreading.
Isaac and Erica were mottled colored, greens and yellows of old and healing bruises. In the two of them, Stiles could see a readiness to forgive and a need to have him back in the pack.
Boyd was solid and still, a dark blue presence, one that held himself apart for the hurt of the pack because he would not let them close enough to cause him pain. Like an ancient boulder left behind in a sea of grass Boyd stood alone and apart from the pack that surrounded him. Stiles felt himself reaching through the pack link to push away the blue and have Boyd fully join the pack.
As soon as Stiles started affecting the pack bonds he noticed the damage created by Scott's attack. Linked throughout the bonds were the blackened remains of his friend's link, burned away by his betrayal leaving heavy scars among the wolves.
Stiles could see his own link in the pack, a gaping maw open and seeping, waiting to be healed. He pushed his own sorrow and shame, his need for forgiveness and belonging through the bonds and felt acceptance and understanding echoed back.
His knees buckled and Stiles would have dropped to the dirt at Derek's feet if now for the strong arms supporting him. "Shh, this won't last. The link is overwhelming at first but it will fade with time. Just hold on to me and everything will be fine."
He was pack, each breath; each beat of his heart was in tune with the wolves that surrounded him. It was if they were part of his skin and he was the blood in their veins. Caught between pleasure and pain, Stiles clung to Derek as he regained his footing and the world swam back into focus.
It was strange looking at the pack now. He could see both their physical forms and the emotional aspects through the link. Stiles took a tentative step toward Jackson wanting to heal the pain he would feel so strongly down the link.
"I haven't felt whole since you left. It's like I'm a table with a missing leg just waiting to topple over. You left your pack." Jackson turned his last word into an enraged snarl, forcing Stiles backwards as he fisted his shirt. A warning growl from Derek slowed Jackson's assault of Stiles' shirt and he quickly released him smoothing his hand down the fabric as he stepped away.
"I didn't leave Jackson. You pushed me away. We can work on becoming whole." Neon blue eyes flashed once and then returned to their usual human color. Jackson shook his head and backed away from Stiles and the rest of the pack.
"It's not that easy. You can't expect to be able to put back the pieces just by coming back." Turning, Jackson loped swiftly into the forest followed by the rest of the back leaving only Derek and Stiles in front of the empty house.
Derek slipped his arms around his new mate and pulled him tighter into his embrace. "That went better than I thought it would," Stiles whispered as he leaned backwards.
"I don't want to rush you." Turning Stiles, Derek looked him in the eye as he tried to explain. "You will need time to better understand the links a pack forms so we will take this slow."
"Huh?" Stiles couldn't seem to keep his eyes off Derek's lips as they formed deliciously shaped words, his tongue teasing him with hints of pink and the occasional swipe of moisture across Derek's upper lip. He was so busy watching Derek speak that he didn't process a single word he said.
"You will sleep in my room, in my bed because you are my mate."
Being newly linked to a pack of wolves and mated to an alpha that he had been steadily falling in love with for the last six months was much like being pleasantly buzzed. "I don't see any problem with that." Stiles smiled and tilted slightly.
"I'll sleep on the couch."
Well crap!
(*************************************************)
Stiles woke to a warmth at his back and a long arm wrapped around his waist. A quick sleep fogged glance proved that it wasn't Derek which was mildly disappointing. "Are you awake?" Isaac snuggled closer until his breath tickled Stiles' nape.
"No." Stiles wiggled deeper into the covers hiding his smile in a pillow.
"Okay." Isaac threw a leg over Stiles' hips and blew softly against his neck. "Are you awake now?"
"No." Stiles burrowed a little deeper. "I thought the pack was mad at me. Do you usually wake people you are mad at up with snuggles or I is it just me?"
"It's just you." Isaac tucked Stiles tighter against his body. It was strangely NOT intimate considering how closely pressed the wolf was to his body and Stiles found himself smiling at the betas antics as he blew another puff of breath into his ear.
"Breakfast is almost ready. Derek wants you downstairs." Stiles almost choked on a pillow as he inhaled rapidly and then giggled. That was almost the exact thing Isaac had said to him that first morning when he woke up chained to Derek's bed. As if reading his mind, Isaac added, "At least I didn't need the keys this time."
"You didn't need them last time either." Rolling out of bed Stiles found himself easily slipping into his usual morning routine albeit using a different bathroom and fighting down some body tingling thoughts as he washed himself clean in Derek's shower.
Breakfast was, per normal were-dining, heavy on the breakfast meats and protein. Derek filled his plate to the brim and then Stiles', making sure that there were a couple of pieces of extra bacon on his plate. Stiles was beginning to understand that pork products was the equivalent to diamonds within a pack. True love thy name is sausage. Glancing up at Derek through his lashes and adding a flutter just to make sure his message was loud and clear, Stiles placed a piece of bacon back on the edge of Derek's plate. Green eyes locked onto his honey brown as Derek quickly picked up the offering and ate it in two bites. Damn, bacon was his new kink.
Stiles let his eyes close as his body truly relaxed for the first time since Scott had pulled into the abandoned warehouse. With Derek's warm presence to his left and the rest of the pack surrounding him Stiles felt at peace. He felt like he had finally come home.